Method of sharpening clippers and devices for holding the same



(No Model.)

T. FOWLER.

METHOD OF SHARPBNING GLIPPBRS AND DEVICE FOR HOLDING THE SAME.

No. 263,398. Patented Aug. 29, 1882.

[I 2 8 2 1. 1) /a 2 D"f1 TINTTED STATES PATENT FFICE.

THADDEUS FOWLER, Oh SEYMOUR, CONNECTlCUT.

METHOD OF-SHARPENING CLlPPERS AND DEVICES FOR HOLDING THE SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 263,398, dated August 29, 1882,

Application filed June 19. 1882. (No model.)

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THADDEUs FOWLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seymour, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Sharpening Clippers and Devices for Holding the Same, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to provide meansforconvenientlyand satisfactorilysharpening at once both blades of a pair of horseclippers or animal-shears.

The nature of said invention consists, first, in the method of sharpening, comprising the following steps: separating the blades sufficiently to admit a sharpener between them, inserting the sharpener, fastening the said blades in parallel planes, and moving the sharpener back and forth between said plates; secondly, in one or more blocks or plates for separating the rear parts of a pair of clipperblades, in combination with holding devices for said blades,and a sharpenerof equal thickness with said blocks, adapted to operate between the cutting-edges of said blades, so as to sharpen both blades at once, substantially as set forth; and, finally, in the peculiar construction and combination of devices, as hereinafter particularly set forth and claimed.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan view of the devices for holding the clipper or shears while being sharpened. Fig. 2 represents a plan view of a pair of animalshears or clipper-blades with the holding and sharpening devices applied thereto. Fig. 3 represents a detail perspective View, inverted, of one of the clipper-holding plates; and Fig. 4 represents a detail view of one of the separating-blocks hereinafter described.

A designates a fixed bed, to which a stationary plate, B, and two laterally-movable plates, C, are attached. On the former plate stop-lugs b b are erected, which limit the rearward motion of the clipper-blades F and G, and the inner edge of each plate C is provided with a lip, c, which will overlap the edge of the under blade, F, and prevent it from rising, while the bodies of these plates C will preventlateral motion of said lower blade. Screws H D hold these plates C rigidly, though detachably, in the position stated. Each plate 0 is provided with a slot, d, Fig. 3, through which the shank of said screw passes to enter said bed A, and with a second slot, 6, which receives a guiding-stud, E, that rises from bed A. They allow the plate C to be moved freely away from the clipper-blade after the screw D has been loosened. When both plates C have thus been moved away there is no longer any impedimentto the removal of the clippers from the holding devices.

Fig. 2 shows a pair of shears or clippers, having the lower blade, F, clamped, as above desoribedthat is to say, with its rear edge against the stoplugs b and its side edges against the plates C and under their lips c. G represents the upper clipper-blade, H and I the two handles, and J the two screws, which, as ushalfifasten the blades F and G together and guide their cutting motion while in use. By loosening said screws J the blades F G are left free to be separated sufficiently to receive between them a sharpener, K, which consists of a flat metallic bar having grooves or corrugations formed in its opposite faces to receive and hold abrasive substances. This bar is secured within a U-shaped frame, L, which is provided with a handle, M. Said bar is preferably hinged to one end of said frame, as at n, and provided with a terminal screw-threaded stud, m, which extends through an opening, making a fork in the other end of said frame, and receiving a clamping thum b-nut outside of the fork of the frame; but other means may be employed for attaching said bar to said frame. As the opposite faces of sharpener K1 are flat and parallel, it is evident that said fastener will operate simultaneously and equally on both clipper-blades if they are held parallel also. To insure this two flat blocks or plates of equal thickness with said sharpenerareinserted between the rear partof upperblade, G, and the lower blade, F, one of these blocks being on each side of the point of attachment of the handles, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 illustrates one of these blocks. I have marked it N, and the same letter applies also to the other. (Not separately shown.) When these blocks have been introduced between the two blades the front or cutting parts of said blades will be held snugly and evenly in parallel planes against the abradin g faces of the sharpener, and as the latter is moved backward and forward between them both blades are sharpened similarly at the same time and by the same motion.

The material used on the sharpener for abrading the clipper-blades is preferably a mixture of emery and oil. \Vater maybe substituted for the oil. The mixture is kept on the sharpener and against the blade by the grooves hereinbefore described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-,-

1. The method of sharpening the blades of horse-clippers or animal-shears, consisting in separating theblades,withoutdetachmentfrom each 0ther,suificie'ntly to admit a sharpener between them, inserting the sharpener, fastenin g the said blades in parallel planes, and moving the sharpener back and forth between said plates, thereby sharpening both of them equally and at the same time.

the cutting-edges of said blades, so as to sharpen both blades at once, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THADDEUS FOWLER. Witnesses:

GEORGE TERRY, GEO. L. BARNES. 

